| paleface [sys=MD; cat=Platformer; reg=NA] |
| | | Completely wacky platformer from wacky developer Treasure, in which your weird little dude can take out badguys by throwing his head at them. He can do this in the eight major directions, and can also equip powerup heads that, for instance, let him shoot bullets, or jump really high.
For a Treasure platformer, the controls are nice and simple. The head-switching complicates matters, though, and I can't say that I spent enough time with the game to learn the ins and outs of each of the various different heads. It didn't really help that the head powerups usually rotated quickly between multiple head types, so I tended to pick up random ones, and then accidentally run into the head powerup thing again, and get another one, and so on; this was particularly obnoxious during a certain boss fight, where the head dispenser stood on one of the two spots from which I could hit the boss. Stop making me switch heads!
The enemy and stage designs area thoroughly bizarre. For instance, the boss in the battle I just referred to is a giant robotic dachshund, who smashes down from above, crushing the usual enemy (the fiendish cyborg (?) cat, Trouble Bruin). The dachshund doesn't really attack you outright, but just looms overhead, jumping up and smashing back down every now and then, while turning around. You have to jump up and throw your head into his big, glowing lollipop tail, which he wags vigorously. This wasn't very hard; in fact, the only real difficulty came from the stupid head dispenser! Grrr.
Later levels seem something like tech demos, rolling out unusual effects such as a series of platformer rotating beneath you as if they're on a big spit, or a boss who snatches you up and drags you at high speed through a long hallway of some sort crowded with debris. The game often has many more sprites whizzing around the screen at once than you can really take in. Maybe I was a little tired or something, but at times it seemed like it was a bit overbored, and all the sprite whizzery (the backgrounds tend to be highly animated as well) was obscuring the actual gameplay. Maybe I should try chugging some coffee before tackling the game again. |
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